Mud season: The rules of the road

Published by the Concord Monitor
By SARAH KINNEY Monitor staff
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
(Published in print: Friday, April 3, 2015)

A group of drivers with ExploringNH hit the trail.

In New England, spring rains and melting snow means mud season for trails and dirt roads. And while this might seem like a good time to take your dirtbike, ATV or rockcrawler out of winter storage, you won’t be able to “go mudding“ just yet.

Despite the association between off-road vehicles and mud, many public access trails and roads are closed during mud season.

New Hampshire has about 1,500 miles of trails available for off-highway recreational vehicles, said Capt. John Wimsatt, a conservation officer with the state Fish and Game Department. Most of those trails are closed from the end of snowmobile season when the snow melts to May 23. In some places, trails are closed longer.

For 4x4s, or full-size off-road vehicles, the Class VI unmaintained roads they usually explored tend to be closed by towns during mud season, from about March to June, according to Ryan Hayes, founder of the ExploringNH club for 4×4 drivers.

Happy trails

However, if you really want to start riding as soon as possible, there are a few areas you can access, but you may have to trailer your OHRV or travel with your 4×4 to get there.

Buddy Dionne, president of the New Hampshire ATV Association, one of the largest OHRV clubs in the state estimated less than 10 percent of the trail system is open right now.

Chris Gamache, chief supervisor of the state Bureau of Trails, said trails built on retired railroad quarters are usually open because the gravel there drains well. The Ammonoosuc, Sugar River and Rockingham Recreational trails are open year-round.

Jericho Mountain State Park in Berlin has trails open year-round. Wimsatt said the trails there have gravel and drainage that keep them from getting too muddy.

If you are looking for mud, the park has that too. Each year at the annual Jericho ATV Festival, a giant mud pit is constructed for races and other events. This year’s festival will be from July 31 to Aug. 2.

The park will also soon be home to the first 4×4 trail on state property. Work is beginning this year on a 2.5 mile trail that leaves from the trailhead by the visitors center.

If you’re looking to get your 4×4 dirty, the Toy Mud Farm in Pittsfield has been having rallies through a mud pit each summer for 10 years. This year’s races will be held June 13, July 11 and Aug. 1, said owner Dana Martin.

Also, in Rumney, there’s Backwoods Farm, which has a number of trails for private use plus a rock crawl and “Muddy Road” for 4x4s, according to its website Backwoodsfarmnh.com.

The 4×4 area can be rented out for parties and events, competitions are held there or you can visit on non-event days, pay $10 at the gate and “test your rig” on the courses. There’s an open house scheduled for April 18, and the big event of the season lands in May when the farm hosts the GTD NH Weekend on May 9 and 10, complete with live music.

While there are some dirtbike tracks that are open during mud season, there are no ATV terrain parks in the state as a whole. Dionne has been talking to the state lawmakers to get some old sandpits for those vehicles to use. He hopes that by having an ATV-only area, clubs can attract more young people.

“It’s a fun thing,” Dionne said.

If you have questions on when or where you can ride, you can visit the Bureau of Trails website or talk to your local OHRV or 4×4 club. There are dozens across the state and come recommended as the best way to hit the trail.

“It might seem counterintuitive to drive a Jeep through the woods to get in touch with nature, but it is a good way to get some fresh air and see things you normally wouldn’t see,” Hayes said. “There is also the aspect of challenging yourself and your vehicle. There are hard sections of every run that we do that can push the limits of most vehicles on our forum. The last aspect might just be the exploring part of it all. Seeing new places, doing new things”

Good clean fun

Gamache blames media portrayals for the association between off-roading and mud. He said advertisers see splashing through mud as a way to make commercials more exciting and impactful.

“It’s a problem we have with the national media market,” he said.

Most 4×4 drivers aren’t particularly interested in driving through mud puddles, said Eric Weybrant, of the Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs, a group of 4×4 clubs in New England and New York. He calls the connection “unfortunate.”

He said it is mostly younger drivers who drive through the mud; they want to get their first vehicle dirty. He said that thrill wears off after they learn that mud isn’t good for the vehicle or for the trail and “it’s just a pain.”

“Most of the people serious about the sport are not that into mud,” Weybrant said.

“Our group tends to avoid mud at all costs,” Hayes said. “As well as being damaging to the trails, mud likes to work it’s way into things like bearings and seals and causes damage to vehicles over time.”

He said ExploringNH tries to disassociate itself from mudding, and doesn’t allow mud photos on its website.

“We do not want to give the false impression that ‘mudding’ is an acceptable thing to do. Sometimes it is unavoidable,” Hayes said. “There is also a difference between a puddle with dirty water and actual mud. A lot of the water on the trails that we drive on has a hard bottom and no damage is being done to the roadbed by driving through it. When the ground gets soft is when the real problems start.”

Mud and ruts

Damage to roads and trails is the primary reason behind the mud season ban.

If the ground is soft – like when it is muddy – vehicles create holes, Weybrant said. When the mud dries, the hole remains. On Class VI roads where 4x4s drive, the ruts can cause problems for other vehicles. Damaged roads could be hazardous if emergency vehicles cannot safely drive on them.

“If a road gets too damaged or becomes a problem for the town, it can get reverted to a Class A trail which disallows vehicular access,” Hayes said. “This is obviously bad for (club members) so we try to do everything possible to keep the roads open and in good condition.”

The roads exist for landowners to access their property, Weybrant said, so it is important that the roads remain passable for them.

Even in the woods, trails can be damaged by vehicle use during mud season. The trails are closed until just before Memorial Day to make sure routes are reasonably dry. Local OHRV clubs, which maintain the trails, will monitor riding areas and can extend the ban if the ground is still wet.

The mud season ban has been around for decades, Gamache said.

Wimsatt said there was greater risk in damaging the trails long-term by riding during mud season. The machines tear up the soil, and when fresh rains come, it can wash away the material.

He said that leads to faster trail deterioration, more erosion and more sediment in the runoff.

Summer rains don’t cause the same kind of damage because the ground isn’t as saturated, Gamache said.

He added that some people prefer to ride when the trail is a bit damp, since it keeps the dust down.

The ecosystem is delicate and the state wants to protect it, Dionne said.

Fines for riding during mud season can vary depending on the severity of damage done. Wimsatt said operating without landowner permission or operating in a closed area can result in a fine of $74 up to $1,000, plus fees. If caught riding in a sensitive area, like wetlands, or where there are protected species, fines can go up to $10,000.

Dionne said going off trail is frowned upon.

Trails are designed to have minimal impact on area wildlife, said Wimsatt. Riding off trail, particularly in the spring, can endanger nesting birds and newborn fawns, as well as other wildlife.

Trail system

There is an extensive network to protect and maintain trails and roads.

The Fish and Game Department registers snowmobiles and OHRVs and collects fees from that. Some of that money is kept in the department for the conservation officers who patrol the state trail system and monitor wildlife. Some goes toward operator safety classes.

That money is distributed by the Bureau of Trails to local OHRV and snowmobile clubs in the form of grants.

The clubs use the money to work on the part of the trail system they are responsible for, Dionne said.

OHRV and snowmobile associations adopt the trails – grading, grooming and clearing trees. Motorized recreational vehicles are not allowed to ride through wetlands or streams, so the groups build bridges, he said.

If one club faces unforeseen emergency repairs, like when flooding relocates a bridge, other clubs will pitch in and help.

Many clubs also volunteer to teach vehicle safety classes and fundraise for special causes.

“It’s a great system,” Dionne said.

Patchwork properties

Aside from upkeep, clubs also are responsible for forging relationships with landowners. Much of the routes used by off-road vehicles are privately owned.

A Bureau of Trails presentation said that 85 percent of summer trails are on private property.

Most public land is open to an array of uses – OHRVs, bikes, equestrians and hikers – however, private landowners can choose what kinds of activities can use their land.

The Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs also pursues relationships with private landowners and works with government organizations to open areas for driving 4x4s.

“Quite often it’s a person who owns a lot of property that isn’t being used and allows groups to build trails in exchange for land maintenance,” Weybrant said.

ExploringNH mainly sticks to Class VI roads, which are open in the winter, though the group avoids those used by snowmobiles.

The group does ride on private lands, too.

“Private land all depends on the landowner and their wishes,” Hayes said. “But for the most part, we don’t use private land in the winter. This is primarily because private land tends to be on the upper end of the difficulty scale in the summer, and when you add a bunch of deep and slippery snow, things become too hard and time consuming to have a good time with it.”

The 26 miles OHRV trails at Hopkinton Everett Lakes is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Like most of the state trail system, it is closed during mud season.

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